Category: Nutrition

The food we eat (or don’t eat) is personal, pulling from our individual, social and cultural values. Our life experiences are often tied up with our eating experiences, and food can be an important and fulfilling part of our lives. In short: Food is important to us. It’s yummy, and it makes us feel good. But, there are other aspects of the relationship with food, which might not be so healthy and harmounious. Particularly in the fitness community, this relationship may confuse “skinny” or “thin” for “healthy” and “fit,” leading to a variety of approaches to food that don’t necessarily put good nutrition first. While some aspects of nutrition …

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“Tomorrow you will find out where you are with your training,” I said. “Take note of what goes well and what doesn’t. It’s just a training day – learn from it. You’ve got 8 weeks until race day to work on whatever needs work.” It was Friday night, May 31st, and I was giving a presentation to the group of athletes assembled for the Draper Training & Nutrition Lake Placid Training camp. The next morning, we’d be doing two loops of the Ironman Lake Placid bike course. But that night, I didn’t realize how important my advice would be–for myself. My …

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I can eat some food. Upon seeing my plate of food after a long day of working and training, some have remarked that I have the appetite of a football player. Or a triathlete. Either way. I carry a cooler of snacks with me almost everywhere I go. At work, my colleagues have yelled “SNACKS!” just to get my attention. Suffice to say, endurance athletes burn a lot of calories, so we need to eat a lot of calories. If I didn’t do any training or exercise, a woman my size (5’3″, 125 lbs) and age (39) would need a base of …

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Last weekend, I set about the business of grocery shopping, selecting a little of the organic this, and some vegetarian that, and a bit of whole sprouted grain something-or-other. I passed by many of the middle aisles, with no temptation to purchase the sugary, processed crap that lurks there. I lingered in the produce aisle, as my new game is to purchase some type of produce I’ve never cooked before and then figure out what to do with it. About halfway through the supermarket, I realized that over the course of the past several years, I had become that person. You know, the …

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When I started this blog several years ago, my concept was that I would write about my training and racing, and all of the lessons I learned from it. Hence, my tagline: Learning about life while pushing the limits of the body. At the outset, there was no way I could have understood just how significant some of these lessons would become. Today, I’m writing from my mother’s bedside. She’s been hospitalized, again, as a result of the complications of pancreatic cancer and its treatment. This time, it’s dehydration, which is not uncommon in cancer patients, nor is this the …

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For endurance athletes, Saturday mornings typically mean one thing: long workout time! My training plan called for a 45 minute run at IM pace, followed immediately by a 2:15 bike with several hard interval sets throughout, followed immediately another 45 minute IM pace run. I remember tweeting cheerfully that I was about to start my own personal duathlon. I was excited to feel the endorphin rush of a well-executed hard workout. Aaahhhh. Poor girl. She just didn’t know what was coming. It was raining, but I love running in the rain. It makes me feel hard core. The run went …

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve received several emails and tweets asking in one way or another, “What should I eat?” Indeed, nutrition before, during and after racing is a key pre-occupation for many runners and triathletes. I suppose that is so because nutrition is so darn tricky. What works for one person may or may not work for another. But, don’t throw up your lunch just yet! There are some general principles you can apply to help you find your race-day fueling sweet spot. I’ll share some of them here. Note: These tips are geared toward race-day fueling for …

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“Oooooohhhhhh, the new juicer is heeerrreeee,” I crooned as I came out of my ice bath into the kitchen to find a large box from Amazon. Within 15 minutes, the juicer was out of the packing, on the counter, and churning through some fresh produce. The first batch of juice we made was pretty standard in terms of ingredients: carrots, apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries and oranges. With the first sip, I was hooked on the earthy freshness of juice that is less than 5 minutes old. That first sip was almost a month ago. So, what have we learned after …